Nilesat spends $50m to expand

By Chris Forrester

February 15, 2016

Nilesat says it will expand its satellite services from its existing MENA regions to East and South Africa.

Nilesat’s marketing manager Mohamed El-Sawy is reported as saying it will be investing about $50 million in order to rollout new broadcast services to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, South Africa, Angola and Nigeria in West Africa.

The satellite operator, which reportedly has new satellites coming on stream in 2017 and 2019, is seeking to enter the highly competitive satellite services sector in the new regions.

Winston Agaba, managing director of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, in an interview with The East African newspaper, says: “There are tangible opportunities for hosting local television channels through the digital migration system and provision of satellite back up links to ISPs. But user costs charged for satellite services are still high and ought to be reduced in order to attract more local clients. For example, the Uganda Communications Commission negotiated a one-year service contract on our behalf with Intelsat and EuroSat worth $370,000. We would prefer average user fees of about $200,000 per year in order to ensure sustainable access to these services.”